| “ | Humanity is not merely a biological condition, but a state of mind... On that basis I am a pseudo-human being at best. A demon at worst. | ” |
— Griffiths
| ||
Stephen Shaun Griffiths, a.k.a. "The Crossbow Cannibal", is a British cannibalistic stalker and serial killer.
History[]
"What will this pseudo-human do, one wonders. Poor Stephen, pretended to be me, but he was only the wrapping. He knew towards the end, that I supplied the inner core of iron. Hatred Bound Tighly in Flesh. At very long last, the time has come to act out."
Griffiths was born on December 24, 1969, as the first child of frozen food salesman Stephen Griffiths and telephonist Moira Dewhirst; she was secretly a con artist who would later be convicted of fraud. The couple divorced when Griffiths was 13, leaving him and his siblings to stay with their mother, despite her criminal record. Griffiths had a strange and disturbing habit of watching his mother have sex with multiple men in their garden. As a teenager, Griffiths would shoplift; on one occasion, Griffiths slashed a clerk's face with a knife when he attempted to stop him, this attack resulted in him being arrested and sentenced to three years in youth custody; Griffiths was aged only 17. During his time in prison, he lost contact with his family and told probation officers and psychiatrists that he fantasized about being a serial killer. A year after his first arrest, Griffiths was released and began to live in a flat located in Manningham; enrolling in psychology at Bradford College.
In 1989, Griffiths was sentenced to 100 hours of community service after an air pistol was found on his possession; he had previously used the pistol to shoot birds, which he would then dissect. The next year, he is arrested again and sentenced to two years in prison for holding a knife to a young girl's throat. Sometime after his release, Griffiths began collecting many books about serial killers in order to study them in a more efficient manner; Griffiths mainly focused on Jack the Ripper, the Moors Murderers, the Acid Bath Murderer, and his personal favorite, the Yorkshire Ripper. In 1998, Griffiths began dating a woman for two years, but the relationship ended when he invited her to his flat, and she found every single surface covered in plastic. Later, Griffiths dated another woman, but she broke up with him because of his abusive nature. This resulted in Griffiths stalking and harassing her for years, despite knowing that she would be the mother of his child that was lost in a miscarriage.
Stephen flipping off CCTV footage, which had previously captured the moment of him killing Suzanne Blamires.
In 2001, Griffiths began to drink heavily and take drugs. Griffiths also bought two lizards and frequently took them for walks on dog leads. One of his neighbors, Rachel Farrington, was invited to his flat and saw Griffiths feeding live rats to his lizards; Griffiths' former friend, Billy Parkin, stated that he once saw him eating a live baby rat. In 2003, Griffiths earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and enrolled at the University of Bradford for a Ph.D. a year later. Being unemployed, Griffiths spent the majority of his time on the Internet, downloading violent pornography. He also quoted criminals on his MySpace account. Griffith would occasionally quote fictional killers, such as Francis Dolarhyde, a necrophilic serial killer and family annihilator from Thomas Harris' novel, Red Dragon. Griffiths' MySpace account username was "Ven Pariah", a figure from demonology.
Unable to resist his urges, Griffiths decided to begin serial killing, killing prostitutes in the Bradford area as a way to honor Peter Sutcliffe, who had killed some of his victims in that same location. On June 22, 2009, Griffiths took a prostitute named Susan Rushworth to his flat and killed her before dismembering her in his bathtub; Griffiths' next two victims were killed in the next year. Suzanne Blamires, Griffiths' third and final victim, attempt to escape but was fatally shot with one of his crossbows and then stabbed. A CCTV camera, which had been installed in the hallway for the sole purpose of monitoring Griffths, captured the whole event and resulted in his arrest. In court, Griffiths introduced himself as the "Crossbow Cannibal", an alias that would later serve as his official serial killer nickname. Griffiths pleaded guilty to all three murders and is currently serving life in prison. Griffiths attempted suicide several times while incarcerated.
Modus Operandi[]
Griffiths would roam Bradford's red light district in the middle of the night until he found a prostitute and brought her to his flat. If not counting Suzanne Blamires, who was shot and stabbed, details of how he exactly killed his victims are unknown, though it is very likely that he would fatally shoot them with one of his crossbows. After killing his victims, Griffiths would dismember them in his bathtub and cook parts of their bodies for him to consume; sometimes eating them raw. Afterward, Griffiths would place parts he didn't consume in plastic bags and dump them into a nearby lake.
Profile[]
"I'm a misanthropic. I don't have much time for the human race."
Following his second arrest for possession of an air pistol, Griffiths was diagnosed with an unspecified personality disorder but later diagnosed as being a sadistic, schizoid psychopath. Criminologists suggested that Griffiths was a narcissistic and misogynistic individual who longed for his moment of fame. People who knew Griffiths described him as being a very odd and Machiavellian misanthrope with a short-temper for people.
Known Victims[]
Confirmed[]
- Unspecified dates:
- Spring 1987: Unnamed supermarket clerk (slashed his face with a knife; survived)
- 1990: Unnamed girl (held at knifepoint; left alive)
- June 22, 2009: Susan Rushworth, 43
- 2010:
- April 26: Shelley Armitage, 31
- May 21: Suzanne Blamires, 36 (shot with a crossbow and stabbed in the head)
Suspected[]
Note: Dates and locations denote when victims were last seen or discovered.
- September 12, 1992, Northwood Edge, Caldy: Yvonne Fitt, 33 (bound and stabbed)
- May 1994, Derbyshire, East Midlands: Dawn Shields, 19 (strangled)
- May 2000, Leeds, West Yorkshire: Gemma Simpson, 24
- 2001:
- April 26, 2001: Rebecca Hall, 19 (bludgeoned)
- November: Michaela Hague, 25 (stabbed)
- Note: Griffiths is suspected of killing at least three additional women.
On Criminal Minds[]
While never directly mentioned or referenced on the show, Griffiths appears to be an inspiration for the following unsubs:
- Season Three
- Floyd Feylinn Ferrel (“[[Lucky”) - Both were cannibalistic serial killers who committed crimes against women when they were minors and targeted prostitutes.
- Season Four
- Eric Ryan Olson (“Zoe's Reprise) - Both were psychopathic serial killers who were incarcerated for committing crimes against women before committing their murders and collected books on serial killers.
- Season Eight
- Willie Kestler ("Perennials") - Both are serial killers (later a spree killer in Kestler's case) of women (though Kestler also targeted and murdered men) inspired to murder by a serial killer of prostitutes before them (Peter Sutcliffe with Griffiths, Russell Smith (who appears to be inspired by Sutcliffe) with Kestler), had problematic histories involving their mothers (Kestler was abused by his grandfather after his mother died in childbirth, Griffiths' mother was a con artist who he spied on when she had sex), studied subjects related to their crimes (Kestler studied reincarnation, Griffiths got a Bachelor's in psychology), and killed victims by shooting and with sharp weapons. Also, Kestler's delusion that he was the reincarnation of Smith is similar to Griffiths having an online username of "Ven Pariah", a demon.
- Season Nine
- Wallace Hines ("The Inspiration" and "The Inspired") - Both were misogynistic, mentally ill serial killers of women, had a record of violence before their murder sprees, were rejected by an ex-girlfriend they later stalked because of their mental health issues, kept unusual pets in their homes (Wallace had praying mantises, Griffiths had lizards), dismembered their victims after they were dead (though Wallace also tortured victims with live dismemberment), and were targets of police stings leading to their arrests.
- Season Eleven
- "Tribute" - While Griffiths was never directly mentioned or referenced on the show, he appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Michael Lee Peterson - Both were narcissistic serial killers who had a criminal parent, lived most of their childhood and adolescence with their mothers, owned books about infamous killers and had a deep fascination with serial killing from an early age, were regarded as violent juvenile delinquents, and classified as psychopaths. Though not exactly a copycat killing, the way Griffiths chose Bradford to commit his murders in order to "honor" another serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, is similar to how Peterson went out of his way to kill victims in the same locations as the serial killers he was copying, as a tribute to them.
On Beyond Borders[]
- Season Two
- "Il Mostro" - While Griffiths was never directly mentioned or referenced on the show, he appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Onario Alighieri - Both were serial killers of women raised by a female relative, were inspired by a serial killer before them (Dominico Scarpa in Alighieri's, Peter Sutcliffe in Griffiths'), had similar records of violence before their murder sprees, and killed their victims by some means of shooting. Also, Alighieri's father Scarpa watching Alighieri's grandmother Elisa work as a prostitute is similar to how Griffiths watched his mother have sex in her garden.